With a relatively short day of 60+ miles we slept in this morning and woke up to sunshine and a warm day - we took it as a favorable omen for our final state line crossing into Florida which, after all, is the Sunshine State. I actually had to pull out the sunscreen with the weather forecast calling for temps into the mid-eighties. We left about 9 AM and almost immediately jumped back onto our now-very familiar US 17. Although a repeat of yesterday and the day before it is a good road to cycle and becomes a little more attractive in the sunshine. The photo of the cyclists in my group ahead of me gives a good view of what the road has been like - all pine tree farms on both sides of the road only occasionally interrupted by an occasional tidal river or marsh or residences, many of which are very similar to what is also pictured above. Another thing that is a constant along 17 is the churches. There seems to be at least one every couple of miles. Most are Baptist, AME, or a seemingly endless variety of independant and frequently very creatively named churches, e.g. The Church of Universal Deliverance for All Peoples Inc or the Carpenter's Home. And finally, with all these tree farms comes the presence of log trucks and today they were out in full force. They move along these roads at speed and keep me constantly checking my mirror and sticking close to that white line on the edge of the road. The truck in the photo was off to the side of the road and the driver became my new best friend almost as soon as I stopped for the picture. He let me know that he always try to give us a little note on his horn when he sees cyclists - I didn't tell him that the blast of that horn can also scare the living daylights out of the biker. We crossed a bridge over a little river and were almost immediately into Florida - great feeling after almost 1500 miles and now 13 states. I was looking for the Welcome to Florida tourist information building they have on I95 and mostly because I wanted the free orange juice they hand out. But, alas, I guess there is not enough traffic on 17 - no tourist booth and no orange juice. We did not go too far before we took a left turn onto Florida's A1A, the highway that runs down the entire east coast of the state. And one change for the better was almost immediate - we got a real bike lane on a very busy 4 lane divided highway. I had long since lost my group today and so was sailing solo and actually enjoying the thought that I was chasing them down. So with a bit of a tailwind after the turn I was cruising at 20/21 mph and really enjoying myself - that bike lane is a real gift. I crossed over one final bridge for the day and came onto Amelia Island and Fernandina Beach. After the obligatory stop at the DQ - another root beer float - we headed for the beach which is maybe a quarter mile from our hotel. The sight of a half a dozen cyclists on the beach and taking pictures drew a few funny looks but it is also great fun to tell people that we just cycled down here from Maine -" omigod don't you own a car" is just one of many. So for today - 62 miles at a 16.5 mph average and about 1000 feet of climbing, almost all of it on bridges. Tomorrow is another relatively short day to St Augustine and with more sun in the forecast it should be just a nice fun ride. And Saturday is Daytona.....